Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for locusta inWebster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

The origin is uncertain. According to De Vaan, the only word similar in form and meaning is lacerta(“lizard; mackerel”) and “they could be cognate words in the language from which Latin borrowed these forms”. Pokorny connects locusta and lacerta with Ancient Greekλάξ(láx)λάγδην(lágdēn, “with the foot”, adverb), λάκτις(láktis, “pestle”), λικερτίζειν(likertízein, “to jump, to dance”) and Old Norseleggr(“lower leg, bone”), Lombardic[Term?](lagi, “thigh”), deriving all from Proto-Indo-European*lek-(“joint, member; to bend, to wind”), explaining locusta as “equipped with joints”. This is considered unconvincing by De Vaan.